JPH0535407Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus equipped with a control board that controls the main body of the apparatus.

(Background of the Idea) FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus having a control board disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 61-201055.

In the figure, 1 is a sheet of paper that is a recording material;
A paper feed roller 2 separates and feeds the paper 1 one by one. A scanner 3 includes, for example, a semiconductor laser, a collimator lens, a polygon mirror, etc. Laser light emitted from the scanner 3 is reflected downward by a mirror 4 to form an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum 5. 8 is a developing device that visualizes the electrostatic latent image. Paper 1 fed by paper feed roller 2
is skewed and the registration is corrected by the registration rollers 7, and is conveyed to the transfer position where the image is transferred. The transferred paper 1 is fixed by a fixing device 8, and is discharged to a paper discharge tray 10 by a paper discharge roller 9. A control board 11 that controls these operations is attached to the lower part of the device main body 12, and is attached to a housing 13 having legs 13a.
is housed within.

According to the above configuration, since the control board 11 is attached to the lower part of the apparatus body 12 which includes the fixing device 8 and the like as a heat source, the temperature does not rise due to the heat generated in the main body apparatus, and there is no risk of failure or abnormality due to the heat. There is no need to worry about the occurrence of Furthermore, even if the size of the control board increases or the number of control boards increases due to software expansion, this can be handled by simply changing the housing 13.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional device having the above configuration, the housing 13 needs to have a strong structure to support the device main body 12 disposed above, which increases the cost. In particular, when the number of control boards 11 increases and the housing 13 is changed to a larger shape (higher height), a stronger structure is required to support the device body 12, and the cost of the housing 13 becomes higher. There is a problem. Further, if the shape of the housing 13 is changed to a larger size, the height of the entire device changes and the design also changes.

This idea was created in view of the above problems.
The purpose is to realize an image forming apparatus in which the strength of the casing housing the control board is not required, and the overall design of the apparatus does not change even if the casing is replaced with a larger one.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems provides an image forming apparatus equipped with a control board for controlling the apparatus main body, in which legs protrude near the lower edge of the apparatus main body. The apparatus is characterized in that a housing housing the control board is installed at a lower part of the apparatus main body and between the legs.

(Function) In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the casing housing the control board is located at the lower part of the apparatus main body, and
Moreover, it is installed between the legs protruding near the lower edge of the device main body.

(Example) An example in which the present invention is applied to a laser printer, which is one of image forming apparatuses, will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

The laser printer of this embodiment has a housing 22 at the bottom of a main body 21 of the apparatus. Four legs 21a protrude near the lower edge of the device main body 21, and the casing 22 is installed at a position between the legs 21a at the bottom of the device main body.
The main body 21 of the device consists of blocks B1 and B2, and the blocks B1 and B2 are connected by a hinge 23.
Block B1 can be moved to open the lid relative to block 2.

The block B1 is provided with an exposure optical section 100 that generates a scanning beam, and the block B2 is provided with a photoreceptor that receives the beam generated by the exposure optical section 100 and develops an electrostatic latent image on a recording paper. An image forming unit 200 for transferring is disposed, and a control unit 300 (mounted as a control board 24 described later) that performs various controls including sequence control of the image forming unit 200 is disposed in the housing 22. .

In FIG. 3 showing the configuration of the optical system of the exposure optical section 100, 31 is a semiconductor laser driven by a laser drive circuit (not shown), and 32 is a semiconductor laser 31.
A collimator lens 33 is a cylindrical lens that receives the transmitted light from the collimator lens 32, which converts the laser beam emitted by the collimator lens into a substantially parallel beam. The light emitted from the cylindrical lens 33 is sent to the mirror 34.
It is reflected by the polygon mirror 35 and enters the polygon mirror 35. The polygon mirror 35 deflects the incident beam in the main scanning direction (direction A), and the reflected light passes through the fθ lens 36 and enters the cylindrical lens 37 for correcting the tilt angle error of the reflective surface of the polygon mirror 35. do. Reference numeral 38 denotes a mirror that sends the light transmitted through the cylindrical lens 37 to the image forming section 200 located at the bottom of FIG. 1 as a scanning beam. The semiconductor laser 31 and each optical component 3 of this exposure optical section 100
2 to 38 are all attached to a substrate 39, and this substrate 39 is supported by a support member within block B1.

In the image forming section 200, a photoreceptor package 41 is composed of a driving roller 42, a driven roller 43, a guide frame 44, and a belt-shaped photoreceptor 45 wound between the rollers 42 and 43. Sub-scanning is performed by rotationally driving the photoreceptor 45 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. Main scanning is performed. 46 is a magnetic brush type developing device equipped with a developing roller 47, and 48 is a transfer electrode for transferring the toner image visualized by the developing device 46 onto transfer paper. Transfer paper in a cassette (not shown) set in a cassette insertion slot 51 is fed to the transfer electrode 48 by a paper feed roller 49 and a conveyance roller 50. In this embodiment, the transfer paper after passing through the transfer electrode 48 is transferred to the heat fixing device 52 in block B1.
The recorded transfer paper is sent to the outside of the laser printer by the delivery roller 53. Note that since the image forming section 200 forms images by an electrophotographic process, it is also equipped with a charging electrode that charges the photoreceptor 45 and a cleaning device that removes residual toner on the photoreceptor 45 after transfer. However, it is omitted in Figure 1. Further, the various rollers mentioned above are rotationally driven by a motor 54. The image forming section 200 is supported by a support member within the block B2, but the photoreceptor package 41 and the developing device 46 can be easily taken out upward from the block B2.

A control board 24 is disposed in a housing 22 provided at the bottom of the apparatus main body 21. The control board 24 controls the laser drive circuit based on print data sent from an external device and also controls the electrophotographic process. The device main body 21 and the housing 22 are fixed together as shown in FIG. That is,
The bottom plate 55 of the block B2 is provided with a flange portion 55a extending outward from the side plate 56, and four holes 55b are bored in the flange portion 55a. Then, a bent portion 25a bent toward the inside of the housing 22 is provided at the upper part of the side plate 25 of the housing 22, and the bent portion 25a is bent toward the inside of the housing 22.
A screw hole 25b is bored in the flange portion 55a, and the housing 22 is fixed to the main body 21 using screws 26 and washers 27. Further, the device main body 21 and the casing 22 are connected by a hinge 28, and after the screws 26 are removed, the device main body 21 can be opened relative to the casing 22. Furthermore, when the screw 26 is removed, the housing 22 rotates counterclockwise around the hinge 28 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. A buffer member 29 that softens this collision is provided at the bottom of the housing 22 on the side opposite to the hinge 28 .

The outside of the device is covered with a cover 30.

According to the above configuration, even if the number of control boards 24 increases due to expansion of software, etc., the problem can be solved by changing only the shape of the housing 22 to a larger size. Further, in that case, since the entire device is supported by the device body, the housing 22 does not need to have a strong structure.
Furthermore, if the length x of the device main body 21 is sufficiently secured in FIG. 1 in anticipation of the future from the beginning, even if the casing 22 is changed to a larger shape, the design of the device main body will not change. If the leg portions 21a are replaced with ones having a higher height, the tolerance of the size of the housing 22 is further expanded.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to laser printers, but can be applied to any image forming apparatus that has a control board.

(Effects of the invention) As explained above, according to the invention, the image forming apparatus does not require the casing containing the control board to be strong, and the design of the entire apparatus does not change even if the casing is changed to a larger one. can be realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a method of fixing the housing and the main body of the apparatus, FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the optical system in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram showing a conventional example. 11, 24... Control board, 12, 21... Apparatus body, 13, 22... Housing, 13a, 21a...
Leg portion, 23, 28... Hinge, 25, 56... Side plate, 25a... Bending portion, 25b... Screw hole, 26
... Screw, 27 ... Washer, 29 ... Buffer member, 3
0...Cover, 31...Semiconductor laser, 32...
Collimator lens, 33, 37...Cylindrical lens, 34, 38...Mirror, 35...Polygon mirror, 36...Fθ lens, 39...Substrate,
41... Photoreceptor package, 46... Developing device, 4
7...Developing roller, 48...Transfer electrode, 49...
Paper feed roller, 50... Conveyance roller, 51... Cassette insertion slot, 52... Heat fixing device, 53... Delivery roller, 54... Motor, 55... Bottom plate, 55a
...Flange section, 55b... Hole, 100... Exposure optical section, 200... Image forming section, 300... Control section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In an image forming apparatus equipped with a control board for controlling the apparatus main body, legs are provided protruding near the lower edge of the apparatus main body, and a casing housing the control board is located at the lower part of the apparatus main body, and An image forming apparatus characterized in that the image forming apparatus is installed between the legs.